NEWS RELEASE — THE BLANK THEATRE LAUNCHES CROWDSOURCING CAMPAIGN AT GENEROSITY.COM ON MONDAY

THE BLANK THEATRE
LAUNCHES CROWDSOURCING CAMPAIGN
AT generosity.com
TO BENEFIT THE THEATRE’S
LIVING ROOM SERIES

The Blank Theatre (Daniel Henning, Founding Artistic Director; Noah Wyle, Artistic Producer; Heather Provost, Producing Director), a 501(c)(3) non-profit arts organization, has announced a first ever generosity.com crowdsourcing campaign to raise funds for its Living Room Series play development program. With a goal of raising $10,000, the campaign begins on Monday, April 11.

Now in its 24th year, the Living Room Series is a New Play Development program which embodies The Blank’s commitment to developing new work by both established and emerging writers. The Living Room Series takes place on Monday evenings between Labor Day and Memorial Day at The Blank’s 2nd Stage Theatre. This program offers a week-long rehearsal process for the playwright, director, and actors to explore and refine the play before presenting it to an audience. The performances are minimally staged with actors carrying scripts and are a wonderful opportunity for the playwright to get a sense of the play’s full potential.

The Living Room Series develops and produces approximately 30 new plays each year. Many of these plays have later received productions at venues including Manhattan Theatre Club, Transport Group, Laguna Playhouse, Malibu Playhouse, The Colony Theatre, Primary Stages, Vineyard Theatre, LaMaMa ETC, and Brideswell Theatre in London. In 2014 The Explorer’s Club by Nell Benjamin (twice developed in the LRS) was produced by Manhattan Theatre Club where it won the NY Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off Broadway Play.

Generosity is a fundraising community built for personal and social causes. Generosity is about compassion — not fees. The Generosity community is free of the fees common to most fundraising platforms, which means users keep more money for their causes. Generosity was built to give Indiegogo users a new community for showing and sharing their compassion through personal fundraising. Generosity helps cancer patients with bills and students with tuition. It boosts humanitarian efforts into new countries and helps nonprofits move quickly with their causes. It fills the gap at the end of a tough month and supports the village after the storm. Generosity is human goodness on a grand scale. To learn more, visit https://www.generosity.com.

Started in 1990 by Founding Artistic Director Daniel Henning, The Blank Theatre is Hollywood’s resident theatre, consistently offering some of the most high quality and entertaining productions in the area. In its 26-year history, The Blank has won hundreds of awards including every major award in Los Angeles for Outstanding Production (LA Drama Critics Circle, Ovation, LA Weekly, NAACP, and Back Stage Garlands). The Blank has been at the forefront of providing high quality productions with a risk-taking sensibility and entertaining experiences. With programs such as its Living Room Series and its annual nationwide Young Playwrights Festival, The Blank Theatre is committed to developing excellence in artistic talent and providing the opportunity for artists to take bold risks. For more info, please visit www.TheBlank.com.

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04-06-16

NEWS RELEASE — THE BLANK THEATRE NOW ACCEPTING SCRIPTS FOR 2016—2017 LIVING ROOM SERIES

THE BLANK THEATRE NOW ACCEPTING SCRIPTS FOR 2016—2017 LIVING ROOM SERIES

The Blank Theatre in Hollywood is now accepting scripts for its 2016—2017 Living Room Series. Submissions will be accepted between March 1 and May 31, 2016.

Now in its 25th year, the Living Room Series is a New Play Development program which embodies The Blank’s commitment to developing new work by both established and emerging writers. The Living Room Series takes place on Monday evenings between Labor Day and Memorial Day at The Blank’s 2nd Stage Theatre. This program offers a week-long rehearsal process for the playwright, director, and actors to explore and refine the play before presenting it to an audience. The performances are minimally staged with actors carrying scripts and are a wonderful opportunity for the playwright to get a sense of the play’s full potential.

The Living Room Series develops and produces approximately 30 new plays each year. Many of these plays have later received productions at venues including Manhattan Theatre Club, Transport Group, Laguna Playhouse, Malibu Playhouse, The Colony Theatre, Primary Stages, Vineyard Theatre, LaMaMa ETC, and Brideswell Theatre in London. In 2014 The Explorer’s Club by Nell Benjamin (twice developed in the LRS) was produced by Manhattan Theatre Club where it won the NY Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off Broadway Play.

Fifteen plays from the Living Room Series have received mainstage productions at The Blank, including Heads by EM Lewis which won the 2008 Francesca Primus Prize and has had subsequent productions at Theater For A New City and other regional venues. In addition, two of the three 2015 Ebell Prize winners, Aliza Goldstein (1st place) and Val Stulman, (3rd place) are LRS alums.

For submission guidelines and further instructions, visit www.theblank.com and click on the Living Room Series.

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03-01-16

NEWS RELEASE — THE BLANK THEATRE PRESENTS A WORLD PREMIERE — “A SINGULAR THEY” BY ALIZA GOLDSTEIN, OPENING SATURDAY 3/26 at 8pm

CAST & DESIGNERS SET
FOR THE BLANK THEATRE’S
WORLD PREMIERE PRODUCTION OF
A SINGULAR THEY
BY ALIZA GOLDSTEIN
DIRECTED BY CHRISTOPHER J. RAYMOND

PERFORMANCES BEGIN MARCH 19
AT THE BLANK’S 2nd STAGE THEATRE

The cast and designers have been set for The Blank Theatre’s world premiere production of A Singular They by Aliza Goldstein, directed by Christopher J. Raymond. Performances begin March 19 with opening night set for Saturday, March 26.

In alphabetical order, the cast will feature Wes McGee, Lily Nicksay, and Hannah Prichard. The design team includes Aaron Lyons (set), Donny Jackson (lighting), Allison Dillard (costumes), and Rebecca Kessin (sound). Nic Dressel is the stage manager. Producers are Daniel Henning, Noah Wyle, and Sarah A. Bauer.

Burbank is your typical high school student — worried about new haircuts, biology exams, losing one’s virginity, and whether to take the estrogen the doctors keep prescribing. Burbank was born “off the binary,” neither entirely male nor female biologically. “He” and “she” just don’t work to describe who Burbank is. “They” is the only appropriate label — A Singular They. They strike up a rapport with their Biology teacher who offers a sympathetic ear and opens Burbank’s eyes to a world outside their conservative suburban community. But after wrecking their social standing with their classmates, Burbank makes a request of Mr. Mazer that goes far beyond what is considered “normal.”

The opening of A Singular They will mark The Blank Theatre’s 20th anniversary at the 2nd Stage Theatre on Hollywood Theatre Row. The Blank took up residence in March of 1996 and in April of that year the LA premiere of Breaking the Code starring Dennis Christopher was a sold-out hit winning LA Drama Critics Circle, LA Weekly, and Drama Logue Awards and two Ovation Award nominations. Since that time, The Blank has produced multiple award­-winning productions at the 2nd Stage, including David & Amy Sedaris’s The Book of Liz, and most recently the critically acclaimed Sons of the Prophet by Pulitzer Prize finalist Stephen Karam.

The Blank Theatre is committed to developing new plays and new artists. The Blank’s mainstage production of A Singular They is the culmination of its new play development program. This play was first presented in The Blank’s Living Room Series, a staged reading series of new plays. It was then produced in the new Living Room Series Plus, a process which takes a play further into development with more rehearsal time and a few performances in front of an audience. Author Aliza Goldstein, who makes her professional debut with this production, was a four-­time winner in The Blank’s Nationwide Young Playwrights Festival, having her first play produced in the YPF at age 15.

Aliza Goldstein is a playwright and video game writer based in Orange County, CA. Her work has been produced at theatres across the country including the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. She is a two-time finalist in the International Thespian Society’s Playworks Program (2008, 2009), a four-time winner in The Blank Theatre’s Young Playwrights Festival (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011), and a 2009 finalist in the Young Playwrights Inc. National Playwriting Competition. Goldstein is also the recipient of the 2007 VSA Playwright Discovery Award, the 2013 John Golden Prize for Undergraduate Playwriting, and the 2015 Ebell of Los Angeles Playwright Prize.

Director Christopher J. Raymond is a graduate fellow of the American Film Institute and currently serves on The Blank’s Living Room Series Artistic Committee. He directed the world premiere of Michael Shaw Fisher’s rock opera Doomsday Cabaret at the 2015 Hollywood Fringe Festival. In addition, he has directed numerous plays for the Living Room Series and the Young Playwrights Festival. He is currently in development for his directorial feature film debut of his adaptation of D.M. Thomas’ novel Flying Into Love. His award-winning screenplay and finalist for the Nicholls Fellowship, Daughter of Heaven, is also in development.

Preview performances of A Singular They begin on Saturday, March 19 at 8pm and continue on Sunday, March 20 at 2pm, and Tuesday through Friday, March 22—25 at 8pm. Opening is set for Saturday, March 26 at 8pm. The regular performance schedule will be Friday and Saturday at 8pm and Sunday at 2pm through May 1. Tickets are $25 for previews and $30 for regular performances and may be purchased online at www.TheBlank.com or via phone at (323) 661-9827.

The Blank’s 2nd Stage Theatre is located at 6500 Santa Monica Boulevard (on Theatre Row at Wilcox), in Hollywood, 90038.

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02-02-16